Creating Aliens: The Ultimate Life Sciences Activity

All-girl engineering workshops are increasing in popularity as a means to attract females into the male-dominated field of engineering. However, the effectiveness of such workshops as a recruitment tool is unclear. This report summarizes several research studies on this topic with the intent of showing the effectiveness of such workshops and other novel methods of introducing and retaining females throughout the schooling years. The analyzed literature identifies the most effective means of encouraging females into the field of engineering as ones that incorporate the following factors: true knowledge of profession, building a network of support, and realizing relevance to personal goals. Suggestions for increasing participation of women in nontraditional occupations are provided.